Enhancement in the sweetness of sucrose

Abstract

THERE is considerable interest in the relationship between chemical structure, both configurational and conformational and the sweet response 1 particularly in the case of sucrose (1) since, of all the sweetening agents it is the most widely used. Hitherto, no derivative of sucrose nor any other carbohydrate has shown sweetness substantially greater than that of sucrose, indeed to the contrary sucrose octa-acetate is very bitter, sucrose monoesters are much less sweet and galacto-sucrose (2), a C4 epimer of sucrose, is greatly diminished in sweetness2. Nevertheless, one of the objectives in our studies on the chemistry of sucrose has been to modify its structure, by chemical means in order to enhance its natural sweetness and in the process prevent metabolism by inhibiting breakdown by invertase. We have now been greatly encouraged by the surprising discovery that a galacto-sucrose derivative, namely 1′,4,6,6′-tetrachloro-galacto-sucrose (3) is intensely sweet, comparable with saccharin but without an unpleasant after-taste. © 1976 Nature Publishing Group.